Singing An Unfinished Song

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Holidays

Looking for the perfect treat to serve this New Years Eve? This Caramel Custard is wonderful if you are serving twelve guest or just two. It’s smooth and creamy – okay, honestly it’s basically pudding; but oh, so grown up! Seriously, you’ll be amazed at how scrumptious the smooth texture and slightly sweet vanilla flavor of this custard is!

Custard

Pour milk and half the sugar (1/4 cup) in a sauce pan and warm over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

While milk is heating up, place egg yolks in bowl and add the remaining sugar (1/4 cup). Beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt and beat until well combined.

Once the milk is quite warm to the touch, temper the eggs by doing the following:

While beating the egg mixture, pour in a small amount of the warm milk (approximately 1/3 cup). Beat for a second or two and then add a small amount of milk again. As you continue to beat the egg mixture add more and more milk slowly. This raises the temperature of the eggs gradually so that they cook without becoming scrambled eggs. Once half the milk mixture has been added to the egg mixture, pour everything from the bowl into the sauce pan, combining all the eggs in with the milk.

Place the sauce pan back on the heat and whisk continuously until the mixture begins to boil. Keep whisking and cook for one minute.

Remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter. Whisk until the butter has fully melted and mixed into the custard.

Pour custard into any dish you like – ramekins, small bowls, or even fancy party glasses! Before refrigerating the custard, place wax paper or plastic wrap directly on top of the custard. This prevents a skin from forming.

Get the Look!

2) Turning the glass upside-down, trace the size of the top onto a sheet of wax paper and cut the circles out. These will be used at the very end to cover the custard so a skin doesn’t form.

3) I just used caramel out of a squeeze bottle and squeezed it directly into the glasses where I wanted it. Place the glasses in the refrigerator so that the caramel will set up and not run while making the custard.

4) Make custard!

5) As the custard cools in the sauce pan, pour a small amount of lime juice in one bowl and poured a small amount of sugar into a second bowl. I used Sugar-In-The-Raw because of it’s big crystals, and it’s slightly caramel-y flavor (since the molasses hasn’t been removed). This kind of sugar is called Turbiando sugar. But any kind of sugar will work. Working each glass in turn, flip the glass upside-down and dipped the rim in the lime juice first and then in the sugar.

6) To keep the glasses looking clean, pour the slightly cooled custard into a Zip-loc bag and, after sealing it shut, snip a hole in the corner. Using this to pour the custard into the glasses means you don’t have to worry about ruining the beautiful sugar along the top edges of your glasses. Refrigerator custard until ready to serve!

Growing up, I made these every year with my mom. The smell of spearmint always takes me back to kneading in the food coloring of these sweet and minty candies. These holiday treats are perfect for making with kids since they are simple and delicious!

In a large bowl, use egg beaters to mix the corn syrup, butter, salt and extract. Next, add the sugar a little at a time. Once the dough becomes too thick for the beaters, continue mixing in the remainder of the sugar by kneading with your hands. This is a great time to get any little ones running around the house involved! Add a few drops of food coloring if you like, and knead until the color is homogeneous.

Roll into small balls with your hands and place on a sheet of wax paper. Using a fork dipped in powdered sugar, press down on the mint balls to flatten. Twist the fork 90 degrees and press down softly again to create a checkered pattern. Mints can be enjoyed as is, dipped in chocolate, or dusted with powdered sugar just before serving as shown above. (Note: if dusting with powdered sugar, remember the sugar will dissolve into the mints after several hours, so dust just before serving.)

Coconut Centers

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the chocolate. Once thoroughly mixed, place in the refrigerator until the mixture has set up enough to hold it’s shape, approximately 2-4 hours. Use a melon-baller to scoop filling and form into balls by rolling between your hands. Place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Place back in the refrigerator or in the freezer until ready to dip.

Melt the chocolate and hand dip the coconut centers. After dipping, place on a clean sheet of wax paper and allow to set-up in the refrigerator. This recipe also works very well with chocolate mold.

Apple Pie Crisp

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Cut in the butter. In a separate bowl mix water, egg, and vinegar. Pour liquids into dry ingredients and CAREFULLY mix by hand just until there are no dry crumbs left. You can chill the dough at this point until you are ready to roll it out and use it. Also, remember, the colder your dough is when it goes into the oven the flakier the crust will be!

Dust your work surface with flour and roll out dough until about 1/4 inch thick. Move to pie dish either by folding into fourths and then gently lifting into the dish or by rolling up and over the top of your rolling pin and using that to lift the dough into your dish. Do not stretch the dough out at this point to make it fit. Instead, allow the dough to gently fall into the corners of the dish and lightly folding it up the sides. Holding crust with one hand, cut to hang one inch over the edge of the pie dish, then fold the end under so that the edging is thicker than the rest of the crust. Crimp edging and set the crust in the refrigerator.

In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir into apples until well distributed.

Pour apples mixture into prepared (uncooked) pie crust. Then get started on the crumb!

Crumb: (yes, this is perfect for 2 pies)

1 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c butter

Mix flour and sugar together and then cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle crumb mixture over the pies.

Bake pies at 400 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes or until done. If the edges of the pies brown too quickly, cover them with foil.

One the house starts filling with the cinnamon apples smell, you’ll be glad you made two! (Of course, if you don’t want two apples pies, you could always fill the second pie crust with anything! For a pudding pie, bake the crust – poking the bottom with a fork first – and once cooled fill it with your favorite pudding.)